On Wed, Aug 6, 2008 at 7:07 PM, ANTHONY JAPHA [email protected] wrote:
Greetings All, Just received the May/June Journal. It is extremely disheartening.
For the 2nd issue in a row, there's no status report on Eagle (using the term in the broad sense as W2GPS uses it, to include the possibility of a rideshare). In Rick's Apogee View, there are the most vague references to progress, but the whole piece could have been written long, long ago. No conceivable definition of a progress report would include that writeup. There is not a single specific citation of real progress. We can only assume there has been none.
This criticism has nothing to do with the difficulty in identifying an affordable launch opportunity, the discussion of which has been lengthy here. It has to do with getting ready for a launch if and when it appears possible. At one level, this is a chicken and egg problem; without a specific launch opportunity, what is to be built? But, the way to get out of a chicken and egg situation is to acquire either a chicken or an egg. We have neither. Without a chicken there'll never be an egg, and vice versa.
Let's get a bird basically ready to go, i.e. designed, prototyped, tested, refined, etc. Where are we on these steps? How much more money is needed to get us there? Is the prospect of raising that amount of money good or is it as grim as being able to afford a launch?
I continue to think that there is enough talent here to do the real stuff. That has been demonstrated many times. What there is little evidence of is the capacity to manage the effort in a way that improves the prospects of pulling the pieces (finance, planning, decision making) together.
If I am wrong about all this, then please show the evidence. Just where are we on the many pieces that will comprise the bird? When will they be finished? How much will it cost? etc, etc, etc. I don't buy "progress" when none is apparent. Please make it apparent to us.
73, Tony, N2UN LM 183
Tony and everyone --
Forgive me if I'm repeating what you know; I don't have the new issue of the Journal, I'm just stating what I understand from other sources. In particular, the AMSAT-UK symposium two weekends ago had a long presentation on P3E. It is supposed to be done by the end of the year. Launch costs are prohibitively high, many millions of euros. However, AMSAT-DL is presenting P3E and P5A as a package to the German national space agency and hopes it might receive funding in that way. P3E would be the test-bed for P5A.
I know you are not asking about this specifically, but I thought at the time that it did not get sufficient publicity on the bb, so I'm writing it here. I understand the presentations will be published online once the video is tidied up. The one on P5A is very interesting, as is the one on Delfi N3xt. After the presentation on P5A, I started pricing a dish :-)
73, Bruce VE9QRP